Federal actions on numerous fronts threaten to take away healthcare, nutrition,
and housing from people who can’t find a job or get enough hours at work. In
January, federal guidance said that states could deny Medicaid to people
struggling to find a job or employed in part-time, unstable jobs. This month,
the President issued an executive order directing federal agencies to take
similar steps for other basic support programs. The proposed 2018 Farm Bill, recently approved by the House Agriculture Committee, will slash nutrition assistance for
jobseekers and workers in part-time or unstable jobs. And just last week, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that public housing
authorities follow suit.

The
bottom line is that cutting off people’s healthcare, nutrition, and housing if
they can’t find a job or get enough hours at work won’t help anyone get ahead. Rather
than punishing people who are already facing economic hardship, leaders should focus
on policies that help create good jobs and boost wages.

CLASP has compiled its resources about the 2018 Farm Bill, including a blog post about
why work requirements will be ineffective >>

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has a series
of briefs about how Medicaid work requirements will hurt different low-income populations
>>

Strengthening Systems Collaboration in Houston

In March we joined Funders Together to End Homelessness and
the Foundations for
Employment and Housing Community of Practice in Houston to dive deep on systems
collaboration in action and learning with our Houston
Connections Project site. Funders learned more about Houston's fully
integrated housing and employment system that supports individuals' housing and
employment goals simultaneously.

At COHHIO's Housing Ohio 2018 conference, we
joined forces with Community of Hope—a homeless service provider based in Washington, DC—to share program-level recommendations for enhancing the design
and delivery of rapid re-housing with employment supports.